Chapter 9 …
Disguising as Refugees
“Madam Noh, what should we do about the carriage?”
When Mr. Son asked, Madam Noh looked at the carriage with a hesitant expression. They had bought that horse the year Dohwa was born. It had even carried the eldest when he went to the capital to take the civil service exam. It felt too wasteful to simply abandon it.
Dohwa could tell her grandmother was reluctant, but no matter how regrettable it was, the carriage had to be abandoned.
Their carriage was neither luxurious nor new—if anything, it was old and worn—but to famine-crazed refugees, it would surely look tempting. Once the escort agency’s protection disappeared, the carriage would inevitably be seized.
To protect their lives, they had to give it up. They needed to carry only the bare minimum of clothing, disguise themselves as refugees, and blend into the crowd. Only then could they safely enter the city.
“Grandmother, they say you have to throw away old things to gain new ones. When we reach Renyi County, I’ll ask Father to buy you a new carriage—one even more splendid than this. How about it?”
Madam Noh knew her granddaughter was trying to comfort her. At a time like this, she couldn’t act like an elder and drag the group down. In the end, she waved her hand, signaling them to do as they wished.
Dohwa turned to the Son couple.
“Please pack. Each of us will carry just one small bundle.”
Mr. and Mrs. Son hurried into the carriage and soon came down carrying several bundles.
Each member of Dohwa’s group took one. Then Dohwa looked toward the escort guards who had not yet departed. After nodding farewell to Jinwu and Jin Xiaoliu, she supported Madam Noh and led the group into the brush. They planned to circle around and merge with the refugees coming from behind.
Once Dohwa’s group disappeared from sight, Jin Xiaoliu shifted his gaze to the carriage left by the roadside and muttered blankly,
“How could they just abandon a carriage like that?”
Buying even a single horse cost at least twenty taels of silver. Even after a successful escort job, it wasn’t easy for each of them to earn that much.
Jinwu spoke.
“I told you—they’re not ordinary people.”
He had realized it when that young boy casually handed over several bottles of top-grade hemostatic medicine.
“Alright, let’s go too. Seeing how quickly they thought of a solution and acted decisively, I doubt we need to worry about them. In times like these, the poor may struggle to survive—but clever people always find a way.”
“What about that carriage?”
“Didn’t the boy thank us just now? Let’s take it along.”
For safety, Dohwa’s group detoured through the brush for quite some time before finally returning to the main road. They blended into the scattered groups of refugees traveling in twos and threes.
The journey afterward made them constantly anxious. Fighting broke out between the refugees who had taken over the roads and the government soldiers. During that time, some people seized the chance to start riots. They robbed anyone they saw; if their targets resisted or had nothing worth taking, they even resorted to murder.
Dohwa’s group nearly suffered a disaster as well, but at the critical moment, Dohwa signaled everyone to throw away all their belongings. The bandits, having gained some loot and seeing the group dressed in rags, eventually cursed at them and left.
After the authorities finally suppressed the riots, Dohwa’s group felt as if they had just returned from the gates of hell.
“We’ve lost all our belongings… how are we supposed to make it to Renyi County now?”
Madam Noh spoke worriedly. Dohwa immediately leaned in and whispered,
“Grandmother, don’t worry. I still have some silver.”
Madam Noh turned to her in shock.
“You have silver?”
Dohwa nodded.
“When we left home, I prepared for emergencies. I sewed a few banknotes into my clothes. Once we enter the city, we can exchange them for silver.”
Relieved, Madam Noh tapped Dohwa’s forehead with her finger.
“You little rascal.”
Rubbing her forehead, Dohwa protested,
“Grandmother, I’m being smart!”
Madam Noh smiled.
“Yes, yes—our Dohwa is the smartest.”
Meanwhile, Xiao Yeyang noticed the worry had vanished from Madam Noh’s face. He glanced back at Dohwa, his eyes flickering.
That brat really was clever—perfect material for a servant. Easy to take along, too. What a pity. Judging by how much Madam Noh treasured her, she probably wouldn’t sell the child.
“Alright, let’s enter the city.”
At the same time, in the rear courtyard of the Renyi County yamen.
An Zhigao, dressed in official robes, paced back and forth across the hall with a furrowed brow.
“By calculation, Mother’s group should have arrived days ago. Why haven’t they come yet? Could something have happened on the road?”
“Elder Brother, please don’t worry. Mother is advanced in years—the journey must simply be taking longer.”
The neatly dressed middle-aged man spoke with a smile. After a brief hesitation, he looked toward An Zhigang, who stood nearby frowning.
“Third Brother, I’m not trying to criticize you, but you weren’t careful this time. You shouldn’t have come ahead alone—you should have traveled with Mother. Now Elder Brother and I are both worried.”
An Zhigang lifted his head to look at his second brother, An Zhiyuan. His lips twitched as if to argue, but remembering that their mother had still not arrived, he swallowed his words.
He deeply regretted it. He should have insisted on traveling together with Mother and the others. Recently, there had been frequent reports of refugee riots. If anything happened to Mother, Dohwa, or Wendu, he would never forgive himself.
“Elder Brother, I’ll go out and search for Mother’s group.”
An Zhiyuan shook his head with a faint smile.
“Third Brother, even at your age, you still act on impulse. Tell me—how exactly will you search for them? Do you even know which road Mother took?”
An Zhigang frowned.
“Isn’t it better than just sitting here worrying?”
But An Zhiyuan raised his brows, clearly unconvinced. It would be nothing but wasted effort.
At that moment, An Zhigao cut into their conversation.
“Enough. Let’s do this—you two go check several roads leading toward Renyi County. Perhaps you’ll run into them halfway.”
Zhongzhou City.
Countless refugees were blocking the city gates. They sat in scattered clusters, staring at the tightly shut gates with expressions ranging from numbness to hope to despair.
Dohwa’s group also wore dark expressions among the crowd.
“We finally made it to Zhongzhou, only to be stopped outside the gates…”
Dohwa muttered gloomily. Xiao Yeyang spoke up.
“This is actually normal. Didn’t the refugees riot recently? If they open the gates now, the refugees will flood in instantly. Who knows what would happen?”
“But with so many refugees gathered here, the authorities can’t just ignore them, right?”
“Who said they’re ignoring them?”
Someone beside them suddenly interjected. Dohwa turned to the man.
“Sir, do you have some information?”
With everyone looking at him, the old man straightened proudly, cleared his throat, and said,
“Yesterday I was wandering near the gate and overheard the soldiers talking. They said a high official from the capital arrived a few days ago.”
“A high official from the capital?”
“That’s right. I heard he even brought a large number of private troops. With such a severe drought in the north, wouldn’t a high official from the capital come to provide relief?”
Hearing this, the others all looked excited. Only Xiao Yeyang lowered his head, his eyes flickering with unreadable thoughts.
Around noon, government soldiers came out from inside the city, each carrying steaming vats of porridge. The moment they appeared, the refugees surged forward like a tidal wave.
Soon, however, a long queue formed outside the gates. Dohwa asked Mrs. Son to stay and guard Madam Noh, then went to line up with An Wendu, Mr. Son, Xiao Yeyang, and Zhao Yigu.
They had no choice. They had lost all their belongings, and even though they had banknotes, there was nowhere outside the city to exchange them. They could only line up for relief porridge.
Meanwhile, while standing in line, Xiao Yeyang suddenly spotted something and abruptly left the queue. Zhao Yigu saw this, thought for a moment, then glanced at Dohwa waiting for porridge. Gritting his teeth, he hurried after Xiao Yeyang.
By the time Dohwa heard from An Wendu and turned around, the two boys had already disappeared into the bustling refugee crowd. She frowned.
“What are those two doing?”
An Wendu shook his head.
“No idea. Yeyang seemed to see something.”
“Forget them—get the porridge. Grandmother hasn’t eaten all night.”
An Wendu agreed. To him, Xiao Yeyang and Zhao Yigu were merely passing travelers—nothing compared to his grandmother and sister.
After standing in line for half a shichen (about an hour), Dohwa, An Wendu, and Mr. Son received three bowls of thin porridge and shared them with Madam Noh and Mrs. Son.
Madam Noh looked at her grandchildren with a pained expression.
“In a way, this experience isn’t entirely bad. At least you’re learning early how hard life in the world can be.”
She sighed and glanced around.
“Why haven’t Yeyang and that boy Yigu returned yet? Nothing’s happened to them, has it?”
Dohwa answered uncertainly,
“They should be fine. That Xiao Yeyang kid looked pretty clever.”
Madam Noh shook her head.
“No matter how clever, he’s still just a child. Against adults, he’d be at a disadvantage.”
An Wendu said,
“Should I go look for them with Mr. Son?”
Madam Noh thought for a moment before replying,
“Don’t go far—just check nearby. If you can’t find them… then that is simply their fate.”
After An Wendu and Mr. Son left, Dohwa sat down beside Madam Noh and muttered,
“They can’t be that unlucky…”
But considering that boy’s terrible luck—running into human traffickers just from stepping outside—who knew what might have happened this time.
